Chávez
By: Horte

Mexico City

On Friday night I found out that Diego was going to be in two functions of JC Chávez to listen to the complaints of the public.  Well, I was present at one of the functions, and my critique goes like this:

We came into the room and it was already full, opposite to what I was thinking. The majority were people older than 30. As an anecdote, behind me was a Chávez groupie  and in the end he was moved very much with the movie and he was the first to applaud and very loudly,
by the way.

Then there was a great silence when they turned on the light, they opened the emergency exit door and two guards entered and behind them was Diego Luna!

Immediately applauses were heard, some ‘bravos’ and ‘congratulations’, after everyone stayed silent. Diego spoke and said he was there to listen to the complaints of the public and they could comment or ask what they wanted. For a moment nobody dared to ask, but then someone had a lot of confidence to ask. Diego had a microphone in his hand and suddenly a very strong buzz was heard. Diego almost threw the microphone and said “Ah bastard!” and everyone laughed and this ended the tension of the moment.

I did not take notes, so I will only comment what I remember:

* Diego was wearing light weight pants, a long black coat and a T-shirt with the UNAM logo.

* Many were surprised with his straightforwardness, kindness and charisma.

*  From my aspect, I will repeat the comments of a few girls who were seated next to me: “how beautiful!!!, his lips, that mouth!!!, those eyes!!!!, but especially, that voice!!!” I must admit it, I agree 100%!!!! Especially with the voice, what a special voice he has.

* His voice is very calm, always smiling, super kind, with excellent humor and flirting with the girls in the first row.

About the questions:

* One person said he was a film critic, that he also belonged to those who were criticizing his work the most and that he attended to be able to condemn his work as director. Nevertheless, after seeing the film, he could only congratulate him and ask him to make his second movie soon. He he suggested the second part of Chávez. Diego proved to be astonished and was grateful for the words, and invited him to summarize his efforts to support Mexican cinema.

* Another person asked for the interviews that he had and didn’t include. He [Diego] said that it will go out promptly on DVD in Mexico (he promised it!!!) and it would include several complete interviews.

* Although ALL the comments were a 100% positive, he defended his idea of that the movie remained as he wanted and that only he was guilty if something failed.

* Of Mister Lonely said that it was a very entertaining movie, and if it wasn’t good, it was the director’s fault!

* He said that it is not going to stop acting, that he’s only going to rest a little, and he was immediately heard in the room, the request that he does not stop acting for a long time, that we all want to see his movies as an actor. Diego ensured that he will keep on acting and directing again when he has something to tell.

General comments:

* Diego appears several times in the movie.

* He said that he is going to be present at some more festivals (someone mentioned that the Vegas Film Festival is going to from June 6 - 16).

* The dedication that appears at the end of the movie is very beautiful, he says something like “To my father, to my mother and to all those who loved her and accompanied her in her way through this world.”

* At the end, when I was waiting for the car in the parking lot (that by the way was quite delayed), I listened to a conversation of several boys that admitted they went with the intention that they were going to have a bad time. But after seeing the movie they had to accept that Diego was an excellent director and that he’s not the conceited, haughty and pretentious guy that they had always believed he was. That they judged him without knowing him, allowing themselves to take the comments of sensationalist programs. They also admired his courage for turning up to listen to the critiques of the public, knowing that he could meet people who could make bad comments just to upset him. They commented after seeing it, his naturalness surprsied them or in their words “an excellent dude, simple, not rough, but above all with a lot of balls to defend what he does.” In the end one of them commened that was going to look for his movies because now he was sure it was worth seeing them because he really is a good actor.

* At the end they took him away without allowing him to sign autographs because he had to go to another function at another theatre and he was already late.

Best wishes from Mexico!